Some massage chairs, particularly portable ones, do not hold up well under the repeated strain that comes from multiple clients. Keep in mind that you may have some clients that are overweight, and your massage apparatus needs to be able to withstand this weight. Massage tables, particularly permanent ones, tend to be sturdier and can handle the stress of repeated usages much better than chairs.

The vast majority of the foot and calf massagers use airbags to create the massaging effect. Each manufacturer has its own proprietary setup of the airbags to provide their own unique feel, but the basic gist of every massager for foot and calf is that the airbags compress the calves and feet in one form or another. Some compression happens all at once, while others inflate in a sequence mode so that it feels like the airbags are "rolling" up and down the legs.